Savannah: Music to My Ears (Pt. 2)

   We continue to look at some of Savannah’s contributions to the world of music. We begin by looking at three musicians and conclude with one music festival.  
 
​       Trummy Young was born January 12, 1912 here in Savannah, Georgia. Young was originally a trumpeter, but showed his diversity when he played a trombone for his professional debut in 1928, Young early on joined Jimmie Lunceford's orchestra, in which he played from 1937 to 1943. With Sy Oliver, he wrote "T'ain't What You Do (It's the Way That You Do It)", a hit for Ella Fitzgerald in 1939.] He had many other noted compositions even one that Savannahian Johnny Mercer wrote the lyrics to "Trav'lin' Light". In 1945 he joined Benny Goodman’s band. He soloed on the number 2 hit of the day "Gotta Be This or That".  In 1952 he joined the Louis Armstrong All-Stars and stayed a dozen years even preforming in the 1956 musical High Society. Trummy Young on his trombone challenged Armstrong. One of their best pieces together was a 1954 recording of "St. Louis Blues”. After a long and masterful career he died at 72 years of age in Honolulu.

Trummy Young on trombone with Louis Armstrong: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7o1EcbVxMR0

        Johnny Mercer is probably Savannah’s best and most prolific musician.  He has a theater named after him, a statue made of him, a bench in Johnson Square in his honor, and a historical marker for his childhood home. He was born in Savannah on Nov 18, 1909 - Jun 25, 1976 (age 66), His song Moon River is the unofficial anthem of Savannah. He wrote the lyrics to more than 1500 songs, including ninety compositions for movies and six Broadway shows, He wrote songs as Accentuate the Positive, That Old Black Magic, One For My Baby, Come Rain or Come Shine, Lazy Bones and Skylark with Hoagy Carmichael; I'm an Old Cowhand, I Remember You, Jeepers Creepers, When a Woman Loves a Man, and Fools Rush In. He received nineteen Academy Award nominations, he won for such songs as In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening also done with Hoagy Carmichael, in 1951; Moon River in 1961 with Henry Mancini; and Days of Wine and Roses again with Mancini, in 1962. On the radio he sang with Benny Goodman and had his own shows, including Johnny Mercer's Music Shop.  As if this was not enough to ensure his mention among the great American musicians, he also founded Capitol Records. He helped in the early careers of stars such as Peggy Lee and Nat King Cole.  He was buried in Savannah’s Bonaventure Cemetery.
Johnny Mercer in one of his television shows: ​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOVgCB_AnYE
           
​        Ben Tucker was born December 13, 1930 in Brentwood, Tennessee. Tucker played the upright bass and was an accomplished jazz musician. He regularly played with some of the most accomplished of his day Quincy Jones, Buddy Rich and Peggy Lee to name some. He was also the composer of Coming Home Baby a song that Mel Torme would sing and it his version landed on the top 40. But Tucker’s contribution to Savannah was instrumental to the local Jazz scene. He moved to Savannah when he learned of the chance to buy two radio stations there in 1972. The two stations would become the radio space for Jazz. WSOK attracting at its peak over 400,000 listeners to become the number one station in Savannah. He also was owner and was found playing for eight years at the heralded nightclub Hard Hearted Hannah. Tucker and his two hundred year old Bass he called Bertha would continue to play in Savannah and becoming an icon in the Jazz music scene. Tucker became an activist in Savannah and the United States serving on the Advisory Committee of the Arts for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performance Art and on the Georgia Fair Employment Practices Advisory Board from 1979-1983. Because of his music and activism he became one of Savannah’s most revered citizens. ‘One of the most interesting things about playing with Ben was he was so beloved by so many people in Savannah who had met him at his club or whose weddings he had played,’ said Howard Paul, a jazz guitarist and president/CEO of Benedetto Guitars who played and recorded with Mr. Tucker for more than 20 years. ‘You could count on being interrupted at least three times in a song because Savannahians would walk up and shake his hand while we were playing.’ He died on June 4, 2013 when his golf cart was hit by a speeding car On Hutchinson Island. His funeral was held in high Jazz Style as ‘the crowd spilled out of the air-conditioned church and into a muggy, steamy Bull Street at Wright Square. It followed a jazz band playing “When the Saints Go Marching In” and the hearse carrying Mr. Tucker’s flag-draped casket in a street procession to Ellis Square — a jazz funeral in its truest form.’(SMN 12-15-15). Tucker was indeed a Savannah Great.

Ben Tucke Jazz Funeral:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbFToH0s4FU 
David Sanborn playing Tucker's 'Coming Home Baby': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1wFO09oCEw

      Savannah is known for its festival so it is no surprise that they have great musical festivals. One of the most prestigious is the American Traditions Competition established to provide a forum for showcasing tomorrow's vocal talents and superstars, and to celebrate the diverse repertoire of standard, classic American music. The American Traditions Competition, in 2011,  became an independent, nonprofit organization, and we continue to attract new talent celebrating the best of classic American Music. With prize money of $12,000 for first place and Prizes for other prizes of $14,000. There are prizes for the best performance of a Johnny Mercer song in the Quarter or Semi finals or the Ben Tucker Jazz Award for best performance of a Jazz song in either Quarter or Semi finals. This competition has been going for twenty-four years.
Stephen Dobson one of the cast of the Savannah Theater Group in performance at American Traditions Competition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1IrylD5PAw&feature=youtu.be

We will conclude next time by bringing us to the contemporary era as we continue to see the development of Savannah’s contributions to the world of music.